Melkor (Morgoth)
Melkor, later named and known as Morgoth, was the most powerful of the Valar and the greatest in knowledge. Because of his pride, his malice and his desire to dominate others he fell into darkness, and became the first Dark Lord. He infected Arda with decay, and spread a purely material empire upon the earth. Morgoth was eventually defeated at the end of the War of Wrath thrown, unhoused, chained up and cast through the Door of Night into the Void. However, his lieutenant Sauron continued to wage war on Middle-earth for thousands of years. It is prophesied that he will return in the end of days, where he will fight in Dagor Dagorath and will finally be defeated and Arda will be remade without his evil. History Before the creation of Arda (The World), Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur. Because of his unique station, he sought to create wills in the manner of his own Creator, so he alone would venture sometimes into the Void in search of the flame Imperishable, the Secret Fire, which would grant him this ability. But he never found it, as it is with Eru only. He had sought to fill the Void with sentient beings and was dissatisfied with Eru's abandonment of it. Instead, in what he hoped would be an expression of his own originality and creativity , he contended with Eru his (God) in the Musice of the Ainur, introducing what he perceived to be themes of his own. Unlike his fellow Ainu Aule, Melkor was too roud to admit that his creations were simply discoveries wholly made posiblee by, and therefore "belonging" to, Eru. Instead, Melkor aspired to the level of Eru, the true Creator of all possibilities. During the Great Music of the Ainur, Melkor attempted to alter the Music and introduced what he believed to be elements purely of his own design. As part o these efforts, he drew many weaker-willed Ainur to him, creating a counter to Eru's main theme. Ironically, these attempts did not truly subvert the Music, but only elabortedd Eru's original intetionss: the Musicof Eru took on depth and beauty precisely because of the strife and sadness Melkor's disharmonies (and their rectification) introduced. Since the Great Music of the Ainur stood template for all of the history and all of mateiall creation in Middle-earth cycle (it was first sung before Time, and then the universe was madeinn its image), there was an aspect of everything in Middle-earth that came from Melkor's malign influence; everything had been "corrupted". Tolkien elaborates on thins Morgoth's RIng drawing an analogy between teh One Ring , into which Sauron commitedd much of his power, and all of Arda-"Morgoth's RIng"- which contains and is corrupted by the residue of Melkor's pwer until the Remaking of tee World. After the creation, many Ainur entered in to Ea. The most powerful of them were called the Valar, or powers of the world; the lesser, who acted as their folowerss and assistants, were the Maiar. They immediatlyy set about the ordering of the universe and Arda within it, according to the thems of Eru as best they understood them. Melkor and his followers entered Ea as well, but he was frustratedthat his colleaguss would not recognize him as leader of the new realm, despite his having a greater share of knowledge and power than all the rest. In anger and shame, set about runing and undoing whatever the ohters did. Each of the Valar was attracted to be a particular aspect of the world that became the focus of his or her powers. Melkor was drawn to terrible extremes and violence bitter cold, scorching heat, earthquakes, rendings, breakings, utter darkness, burning light etc. His power was so great that at first the Valar were unable to strain him; he single single-handedly contended with collective might of all of the Valar. Arda never seemed to achieve a stable form until the Vala Tulkas entered Ea and tipped the balance. Driven out by Tulkas Melkor brooded in the darkness, and the island Almaren, the first home of the Valar on Earth, was destroyed in the violence of the lamp's fall. After the fall of the lamps, the Valar withdrew into the land of Aman in the far west. The country where they settled was clued Valinor, which they headily fortified. Melkor held domain over Middle-earth from his fortress of Utumno in the North.\Melkor's first reign ended after the Elves, the eldest of the children of lluvatar, awoke at the shores of Cuivienen, and the Valar resolved to rescue them from his malice. The Valar waged devastaingg war on Melkor, and destroyed Utumno. Melkor was bound with a specially forged chain, Angainor and borught to Valinor, where he was imprisoned in the Halls of Mandos for three ages. Trivia *In Tolkien's early writings Melkor was known as Melko. Category:Characters Category:Ainur